Competing to be “Fittest Man on Earth”

In July 2016, the top 40 men and top 40 women will compete for the title of “Fittest on Earth” at the CrossFit Games. Alex Anderson is a 26-year-old CrossFit athlete who began competing in the spring of his senior year of college after playing football at Maryville College for four years.

His love for competition and CrossFit began when his dad qualified for the Games in 2011 and won the 55-59 age division as a Master. Just two years later, his brother ZA competed as an individual and finished 10th. “I just wanted to follow suit with them,” Anderson says, “and kept it going.”

He qualified for the 2015 Games where he finished 13th overall making him the 13th Fittest Man on Earth. After nearly a year of training since that competition, Anderson trains 6-8 hours a day plus swim workouts.

This July, Alex and his brother Jacob will make history. The brothers will be the first siblings to compete in the Games in the same year. “It’s great; honestly, I’ve been competing with Jacob for the last two years,” Anderson says, “it’ll be no different, it’ll be fun.”

Think about Carson, California, home of the CrossFit Games and Anderson says he is counting down until the events. “It’s where it all happens. That’s like the World Series of CrossFit, the mecca of CrossFit,” Anderson says, “that’s where athletes are born.”

Taylor Layman, manager of CrossFit Ktown, is proud of Anderson and says members at the gym are not intimidated by him. Laymon also says he’s proud of Anderson’s hard work.

“Making it to back to back Games is huge,” Layman says, “I don’t know if we have a real good sports analogy to compare it to.”